


Forest of Amaranthine

by StargazingAtWords (TheLonelyJournalKeeper)



Series: Nali Week 2015 [3]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death In Dream, F/M, Forests, Hallucinations, NaLi Week, Visions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-10 22:10:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4409657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLonelyJournalKeeper/pseuds/StargazingAtWords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natsu and Lisanna are on a mission to bring back an adult Amaranthine flower from the Forest of Amaranthine. Little do they know how difficult this will prove to be. Nali Week 2015 - Day 3- Lost, Apart, Away</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forest of Amaranthine

**Author's Note:**

> Erm this one is kind of creepy. Also it's in the present tense which is difficult for me to write.

The Amaranthine Forest is creepy. The trees seem much too close together and no sunlight is visible through the canopy. Everything seems so close together, pressing in on you and the forest is so vast that you could get lost in it forever. In fact, there are rumors of people doing just that. It is said that people have walked into the forest and never come out. 

But Lisanna cannot bring herself to feel scared or to regret coming here for a few simple reasons. 

Most importantly, she had Natsu by her side. 

But also, the floor of the forest is coated in deep purple flowers. Lisanna doesn’t know how they’re surviving without sunlight but they’re flourishing and they’re releasing a heady scent that makes Lisanna feel relaxed. 

In fact, she’s so relaxed it feels almost like a dream. A very pleasant dream. Why would she be scared again? The forest is lovely. 

Natsu steps on a branch and Lisanna jerks out of her daydream. 

She catches sight of her surroundings and remembers why she should be scared again. 

To add to the eeriness, it’s dead quiet in there except for the sound of their footsteps and their labored breathing. They’ve been walking for quite some time now and still haven’t reached their destination. 

“What are we here for again?” Natsu asks, suddenly. 

It takes Lisanna a second to recall. “We’re looking for an amaranthine flower for our client. They’re going to give a pretty great reward if we accomplish this mission.” 

He nods, dazedly. “Yeah. I remember now. This is an S class mission, isn’t it?” 

“Yup.” Lisanna agrees. “It’s a good thing, you’re S class then.” 

He cracks a grin. “I don’t need to be S class to handle a bunch of stupid plants. Remind me again why we can’t just pick any of these flowers? Aren’t they amaranthine?” 

She nods. “They are, but they’re not fully grown. We need an adult amaranthine for our client.” 

“And where can we find one of those?” He asks. 

“They’ll be in the very center of the forest.” She explains. “The flowers should get older and bigger the closer we get. Honestly, Natsu. Weren’t you paying attention when Ms. Antidel explained all this?” Lisanna teases. 

“Guess not.” He says, unashamed. 

“What am I going to do with you?” She grins and for a moment the fog that seems to have settled over her mind clears, but only for a moment. It returns soon after. 

They lapse into silence for a moment before Lisanna says, “Let’s keep talking. I’m feeling a little out of it. I need something to distract me.” 

Natsu complies. “This place is weird.” He says. “It doesn’t feel real.” 

Lisanna nods in agreement. “You think it’s the flowers? They seem to be releasing some kind of fragrance.” 

“You’re telling me.” He sniffs. “It’s so strong!” 

“Oh right.” She giggles. “Dragon slayer senses.” 

“What do these flowers actually do then? Why are they so valuable?” 

Lisanna hums thoughtfully, trying to recall. “I think they’re used in brews and stuff. They’re extremely hardy as well. Like extremely. They’re magically everlasting. I guess that’s how they’re flourishing in this environment.” 

“When did you become an expert in flowers?” Natsu says as they continued trudging through the forest. 

The flowers are getting bigger which is a good sign, but the scent is getting stronger and with it the mental fog. 

“I have to do something while you’re off saving the day.” She teases. “But really, I’m not that much of an expert. Most of this stuff I learned in preparation for this mission like the fact that…”  She trails off, momentarily overwhelmed by the heady scent and the realization of what she was about to say. 

“Lisanna?” 

“They’re used to induce visions and in sleeping potions.” She whispers. “That must be why people come into this forest and never come out. They fall asleep. Maybe forever.” 

The realization of what they meant sunk in. 

Natsu curses. “Stupid flowers!” He says. “I can’t fight flowers!” 

Lisanna laughs. “No, you really can’t. Come on.” She takes his hand. It comes naturally to her now after years spent side by side. 

Their hands join together perfectly.

“We have to keep going. We’re just going to have to hope we can stave off whatever effects these flowers will have on us.” 

“We can do it.” Natsu says, confidently. “We’re tougher than some flowers, especially when we’re together.” 

“Yes.” Lisanna agrees. 

They trudge onward. The scent grows heavier and they slow. Talking becomes difficult but still they forge onwards. Not once does it occur to them to turn back. Perhaps it should have, but they are too determined to reach their goal. They are developing a one-track mind. 

Everything slows and still they press on. 

Dreams and reality blur and mix. 

It seems to Lisanna the only thing real is her hand in Natsu’s but then…even that is gone. 

That’s enough to give her the panic that she needs. Suddenly, she feel clear and awake, too much so actually. It seems as though the flowers as stopped working on her though she doesn’t know why. Everything seems hyper real. The trees to in focus; the scents too sharp. 

She looks around her frantically. Natsu is simply gone. He’s lost. Or she is. She isn’t quite sure. Perhaps they both are. 

She looks around some more attempting to gather her bearings, but she realizes she doesn’t know where she is. 

Yes. They are both lost it would seem. 

But being lost together is not as bad as being lost apart as they were now and she finally feels the fear start creeping in. 

“No. No. No.” She tells herself firmly. “I’ll just have to continue toward the center. He’ll meet me there and we’ll be neither lost nor apart.” 

She is not certain which way is the center at first, but then she recalls that the flowers are bigger towards the center and she finds the biggest looking flower she can find and heads in that direction. 

She’s not gone one hundred steps when suddenly she finds herself exactly where she started which she notices now is a clearing of sorts though the sky is still not visible above and that’s how she knows something is seriously wrong. 

She tries to take stock of her surroundings once more, but then she sees something that makes her heart just about stop. 

The small part of her brain still thinking rationally points out that there’s no way she could’ve missed him earlier, but the majority of her brain is consumed in panic because Natsu Dragneel, the boy she loves, is hanging from a tree branch with a vine wrapped around his neck like a noose. 

He’s just out of reach. Her finger tips skim the bottoms of his sandals as she jumps up frantically in a futile attempt to rescue him. 

She doesn’t think to use magic. She isn’t thinking much at all. 

The sharpness becomes paralyzing. Panic making the hyperreal overwhelming. Adrenalin coursing through her veins. 

She’s screaming his name. “Natsu!” She can’t tell if he’s alive up there. 

Then he gasps and rasps out a word. “Lis…anna…” 

Then the vine snaps and he falls. 

And she can tell without checking, she can feel it ripping through the very core of her being, that he is dead. 

She falls to her knees, sobbing, “No..no..” over and over again. 

And then, even as cold, hard truth takes root, she can feel a seed of denial begin to sprout simultaneously. 

“You-you said.” She took a deep breath, attempting to dry her tears. “You said that we’re tougher than some flowers. Especially when we’re together.” 

_You weren’t together,_ an evil voice whispers in her mind. It’s a hiss. It shouldn’t belong there at all, but it doesn’t feel like an intrusion. It feels like part of her. _It wasn’t some flowers. It was a tree and a vine. It’s your fault you know. You left him._

“No!” She shouts, shaking her head. “No! That doesn’t make sense. How would he get up there? I didn’t leave him! This can’t be real.” She denies. 

_You’ve left him before_ , the voice says _. Terrible things happened then too. He needs you, you know._

“Tha-that wasn’t my fault.” She says, tightly. 

_Oh no?_ The voice hisses. It sounds cruelly amused. _Perhaps it’s his fault then. He said he’d come and find you, didn’t he? But he left you lost. Just as he did now. Terrible things happen you’re apart._ The voice is now mockingly sympathetic. _Such a shame. But it doesn’t matter whose fault it is, blossom. He’s gone. You’re lost. You are both apart._

“It’s not his fault either!” She says, angrily. “Sometimes things just happen and you have to pick yourself up and carry on! And did you just call me blossom? Who are you?! What do you want!?” Realization dawns on her and she smiles before calmly saying: 

“This isn’t real.” 

_What?_ hisses the voice. Stray petals along the ground begin to rustle as if caught in a breeze but Lisanna feels nothing. The rustling grows louder and the voice grows stronger, only now it sounds like many voices, all speaking as one. 

_Oh, you’re a clever one, blossom!_ It says. _There aren’t many who have seen through our illusion and fewer still who have the strength to face our words. Most see our wisdom and yield to it. We know all and we know best!_

And the last word, the whirling of the petals crescendos and they cluster tighter and tighter together until they form one ominous mass. 

It’s about Lisanna’s height and vaguely humanoid. A person made of flower petals. 

But where its eyes should be were only black slits, shadowed out and threatening. 

Lisanna is still on her knees so she rises and looks the thing in what passed for its eyes. 

Her hands shake, but he voice doesn’t tremble when she says one more, “Who are you?” 

She sets her jaw. She would not let it see her fear. 

The thing laughs. It does not have a mouth. Nothing on its face moves but it laughs nonetheless. _We can see your fear._ It tells her. _We told you. We know all and we know best. As for who we are…_

**We are the forest.** And now the voice is physical. It comes from everything. From the leaves on the trees to the their deepest roots, but mostly, it comes from the flowers. The flowers that are everywhere in this forest. The flowers that make her so sure this cannot be real because in a forest full of hallucinogenic flowers what is more likely? 

That Natsu Dragneel is dead or that nothing that is happening is real? 

**We are the forest.** The voice says again. **We are everything that surrounds you right now. We are older than time itself and we will be here when your species has come and gone. We are eternity. And you, blossom, are just a clever little girl.**

“That’s bold talk for a pile of petals!” She shouts. “You may think you’re in charge here. You can boast all you like, but none of this is real! This is just a vision brought on by the flowers and Natsu is still alive! And I’m going to find him.” She says. 

The thing roars, outraged by her audacity. 

“What are you going to do?” She sneers. “You’re all bark and no bite, aren’t you? You haven’t done a single thing to physically hurt me this whole time. You can’t do that. You can just make me feel bad. That’s all you can do.” She turns to leave. “And one more thing, you can’t even do that. I’m the only one who gets to decide how I feel.” 

The thing, the forest, the person of petals, roars once more and the whole forest trembles, but Lisanna isn’t scared. 

It charges, petals swishing out behind it, but Lisanna doesn’t flinch and rightly so because the moment before it reaches her it simply falls. The petals all fall apart and it flutters softly to the ground. 

But to Lisanna’s surprise, she falls with it. 

Everything goes fuzzy and unreal and when she sits up she is no longer in the clearing with Natsu’s dead body, she’s on the path with his live one. 

He’s asleep, a few paces behind her perhaps as though he fell asleep a few moments before her. 

Disturbingly however, she notices that the flowers were growing over them. It was like the forest was trying to eat them. In time they would both be a part of the forest. 

The thought makes her shudder, but she has no time to reflect because Natsu is still asleep and if she doesn’t do something she might soon join him. 

That was it, she thinks. The flowers put you to sleep so the forest can devour you, but it’s unable to do physical harm to anyone! 

And if it tries to….”You wake up!” She shouts. But why is it so cruel? It seems to delight in playing her her worst nightmare and taunting her, reminding her of all the worst things that have happened to her. 

Maybe it’s the simmering resentment of all the people whose lives the forest has claimed. Perhaps it had not started out evil. Perhaps it had just been doing its thing. 

And if its thing was engulfing people, then no wonder it got corrupted or perhaps…

The forest is immortal, perhaps that was the result of all the lives it claimed. Immortality in exchange for others’ lives. 

No, she doesn’t like this one bit. 

No matter what the case. She doesn’t find it likely she’ll ever find out. 

What mattered now was saving Natsu and getting away from here, preferably with an adult amaranthine flower. 

She scrambles up, ripping vibrant flowers from the ground. She knows the forest couldn’t hurt her now, but she still doesn't like it covering her like that. 

She slogs over to Natsu and kneels beside him, gulping as it was all too reminiscent of her vision. 

He is alive though, thankfully, but she doesn’t know what to do. 

She absently brushes away the flowers from him and her hand makes contact with his skin and suddenly she collapses once more.

She’s in the clearing again, but the scene is different this time. 

Natsu is kneeling in the center of the clearing beside her dead body. She appears to have been choked to death by rose bushes. 

The sight is gruesome, all the more terrifying to Lisanna as it was her. 

“Lisanna!” Natsu is shaking her, (or not her, what looks like her, but isn’t, none of this is real) and saying her name over and over again. 

“Natsu!” She shouts back. 

He turns to her, confused. “Lisanna!” His eyes are shining with tears and confusion. “But you’re…” 

“I’m not dead, Natsu!” She says. She races forward and takes his hand, holding their interlocked fingers against her chest. “I’m alive. None of this is real.” 

“What?” He says, shocked. “But it feels so…intense.” 

“I know.” She says. “I know. But you’ve got to believe me. This isn’t happening. It’s the effect of the flowers. We’ve got to get out of here somehow.” 

“Get out of here? Where are we? How?” Natsu is confused, but she heaves a sigh of relief that he believes her. She was terrified he’d think her the illusion. 

“We’re not here.” She says. “We’re still where we were. We fell asleep. This is a dream.” 

“A dream? What’s going on?” 

“We don't have time to explain it now. We need to…” She smiles. “Natsu. You need to make the forest mad.” 

“What? How?” He says. 

“I don’t know! You said you can’t fight flowers but give it a try!” 

“Alright!” He agrees and they start tearing about the place. 

It takes only a few seconds before the petals star whirling. 

“It’s working!” She shouts, pointing. “I found him, forest! You won’t win! We’re going to get away!” 

To her surprise, the petals solidify and ignore her. They turn to Natsu instead. 

_You’re going delirious in your grief, Natsu._ Its voice is once again mocking sympathy. _Losing her twice was too much for you. She’s not real. She’s spouting nonsense trying to make you feel better. You always like having an enemy. Someone you can deal with by fighting. It makes things so much simpler._

“That’s right. I do.” He says. “But more than that, I like to have people I can count on, and I can count on, Lisanna. I don’t believe you.” 

“Natsu!” She beams. “Okay, Natsu. What we need to do is very simple. We need to make it mad enough that it tries to attack us. That’ll wake us up.” 

Wait. Was that just her or did she feel groggy? 

“Okay.” Natsu grinned, swinging his arms. “I’m all fired up. Pile of old petals like you, ought to burn easily.” He growled at the thing. 

“No, wait!” Lisanna said, suddenly. “I think there’s an easier way.” 

“Which is?” 

“Kiss me!” 

“What now?” He said, surprised. 

“I’ve just figured it out. The forest feeds on negative emotions. That’s what gives it strength. It’s all an elaborate system. The whole place is designed to creep you out and take you off guard so you fall asleep. Then it eats you and gains immortality.” 

Perhaps it is just defending itself in a very unusual way. Perhaps it wasn’t evil, no more than a wolf was evil for killing a deer. 

But in any case, the prey had two options. Fight back or run away. Lisanna wasn’t sure which she was doing. Maybe both. 

“What?!” Natsu says. 

“So the solution,” Lisanna plows on. “Must be positive emotions.” 

The voice voice which had been silent until now hisses at them. _Oh very good, blossom. We’ll admit no one’s ever worked this out before but you’re forgetting one thing.We’re still in charge here and there will be no positive emotions on our watch._ It cackles, sounding like snapping branches and rustily leaves and the imaginary winds pick up again whirling around and around. They blow more and more flowers together and together. This time spare leaves fly into the mix too. The voice sounds stronger. 

“Natsu, now!” To her surprise, he takes no further encouragement. Maybe he believe her, maybe he’s desperate or maybe he simply wants to. 

Whatever the case, he takes her by surprise as he wraps an arm around her waist and cups her face with the free hand before kissing her softly. 

The effect is instantaneous.  Warmth, happiness, pleasure all spread through her. The effect is as intoxicating as any flower and she craves it more. 

Both of his hands settle loosely around her waist as she threads hers through his hair as she deepens the kiss. 

Emotions crescendo as she starts to feel groggy and wake up, the happy realization that it’s working aiding the effort. 

Natsu pulls back breathless. 

“Kiss me again.” She says, equally breathless. “It’s working. Look!” The thing is falling apart, petals and leaves peeling off and drifting the ground. “And don’t you feel it?” 

‘“I feel…sort of tired.” He says. 

“That means it’s working. We’ll wake up in the forest soon.” 

She kisses him again, harder this time. Both of them frantic for the pleasure they need to escape this place. Everything around her is fading, back into a state of unreal. 

And then they collapse but even mid fall Lisanna is smiling and she sits up a moment later, back where they had started, but this time Natsu is up too, brushing away flowers with a look of distaste. 

She stands up and holds out a hand. He takes it and they continue walking as though nothing had happened for a moment before Natsu says, “Now what?” 

“Now we have to stay awake.” She says. “Try thinking happy thoughts.” 

“Should be easy.” Natsu smirks. “I’m with you.” 

She laughs. “You’re good at this.” This place caught us off guard before, Lisanna thinks. We won’t let it happen again. She fills her spirit with determination and happiness and they trek on. 

Curiously, while their minds were much more tired after that experience, it had rejuvenated their bodies. 

They maintain a happy disposition as they carry along, joking and sharing kisses. 

Unfortunately however, the scent starts to get heavier and Natsu is the first one to cover his nose. 

Lisanna does the same but they don’t let it dampen their spirits. They cannot. To do so would be to risk falling asleep and being consumed by the forest. So they carry on. 

And then suddenly, with them both laughing over something the other one has said, they hit a wall. A very curious wall because upon closer inspection it appears to be made out of giant flower petal. Giant, impossibly hard, flower petals. 

“Where’s the door?” Natsu says. The proof of their success makes it easy to smile as well, but Lisanna thinks they will never risk this trip again. 

“I don’t know.” She looks around. “Aha!” She shouts a moment later. “It’s here.” 

A petal is missing from the wall and it’s space enough to slip through so they do, one after the other. 

And inside are the biggest flowers Lisanna had ever seen, they span at least two feet across in the same dark purple color as the rest of the flowers. Natsu and Lisanna cough as the scent is near overpowering. Lisanna still feels sleepy but she refuses to let it get to her. 

“You’re carrying it back.” She teases. 

Natsu flexes his muscles jokingly. “I can handle it.” 

LIsanna selects a flower and pulls out a pair of silver scissors from her pocket. They don’t look like much but they cut through the stem in one snip and then disappear. The client had given to them specifically for this purpose but they were one time use. 

Natsu hefted the huge flower. It was fairly light but rather cumbersome. 

He chokes on the scent before breathing through his mouth. 

“Careful,” Lisanna warns, but instead of reprimanding or cautioning him she takes a teasing approach, thinking that would be the better solution. “I can’t carry both you and the flower back.” 

“Maybe if you were in one of your takeovers.” He suggests. 

She laughs. “Okay then. Do fall asleep.” 

He doesn’t and they embark on the walk back. 

Lisanna is uneasy about how much time it might take. It took them long enough walking there even without the forest’s interference. 

But it’s easier on the way back. Each step brings air less full of the flower’s perfume. Each step brings wakefulness and relief. 

They continue walking, pushing aside any worries. After all, haven’t they done enough? 

Fear catches a hold of them anyways, it’s only when you start to run that you really get scared after all. 

And soon they are barreling forwards, desperate to be out of this hellish forest. 

It is fortunate the effects of the flowers are waning the closer they get to the edge of the forest because otherwise the fear would put them to sleep and Lisanna doesn’t think she has it in her to fend off another mind attack by the voice. 

“There!” Natsu shouts. “I can see light!” 

He can. Daylight is trickling in through the slats of the trees which are thinning quickly now. 

“We’re almost there!” Lisanna shouts, happily. “We can do it!” 

Renewed strength flows through them and they burst out of the forest before collapsing on the ground in the midst of the laughter that comes from evading certain death. The giddy laughter of ‘We made it!’ 

They take a moment to compose themselves and regain their bearings. 

“How long were we in there?” Natsu wonders. 

Lisanna shrugs, too relieved to have made it to care. “I’m not sure.” She says. She stands up. “Come on, let’s get away from this place.” 

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” He says. 

“I don’t think we’ll ever come back here, do you?” Lisanna asks. 

Natsu laughs. “If Ms. Antidel needs more flowers, someone else can get them. We’ll give them information, of course.” He adds. 

Lisanna nods. “Yes. We found out quite a lot.” 

So they turn and walk away from the forest, towards happiness and their reward. 

 


End file.
